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FEBRUARY
WING
SPAN
MAAALogo.
Tahn said he has greatly appreciated theMAAA’s sponsorship
of World Championship teams both as
a
competitor and a
teammanager. However hismost memorable, unsponsored
trip, involved a threemonthmodel flying holiday, touring
Europe in a campervan with hismodel planes.
Starting out in France, flying at one of the biggest
competitions, Poitou and at Moncontour, Tahn then
competed at Capponori in Italy before venturing to Greda
Sunjska in Croatia and finishing up in Bulgaria.
Having flown with somany different people fromaround
the world, Tahn said the international fraternity that
is aeromodelling, encompassed extraordinary people
fromall walks of life. But with the amazing friendships
forged, travelling has also shown him the different flying
experiencesmodellers are faced with compared to
Australia.
“Croatia has seenmore than its share of conflicts over
the centuries, however I was not prepared for one of the
consequences of themost recent conflict. We were flying on
a fairly small “common” which was used as grazing land for
the town’s cows and a small area not more than 50metres
x 40metres had beenmown as a designated launch area,
with a flight linemarked by traffic cones about threemetres
apart.
“Upwind of this area was a river and down wind was a forest.
I was wondering why no one was adopting the usual tactic
of towing up and then heading down wind to wait for models
to come overhead in lift and so ‘piggy back’ into the same
thermal. I was told by the locals that themodel could end
up in the forest and that I would need a local to retrieve it as
they knewwhere the unexploded landmines were.”
So where in the world will 2017 take Tahn and his free flight
planes? With his eyes set on the skies in California this
month (February), Tahn will be competing in the ‘Fab-Feb’
three World Cup Free Flight Competitions that are held back
to back.
We wish him the best of luck!
Tahn Stowe has competed in free flight
competitions around the globe from
Argentina to the Czech Rebublic.